Comments on: Every Think owner must know this!

By: Johnny

Johnny — Fri, 08 Apr 2016 04:14:58 +0000

I uploaded a series of photos at ( https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/think_ev/photos/albums/1019683942 ) that show how I cut the common wire to the heater control and spliced in a 40A relay with a time delay circuit to wait 20-30 seconds before the heater / blower will turn on. I wired the timer relay to the sunroof fuse position as it does not come on with the 1st position “accessory” but comes on only when the key is in the 2nd position “On” (and the “start” position 3). When the car is started, the 12v signal starts the timer delay and in 20-30 seconds it activates the relay which powers the auxiliary relay and then closes the B6 common wire to the blower switch turning on the heater or a/c.
The time delay relay circuit is a hobbykit.eu model 1581 or 1582 http://hobbykit.eu/rele-za-vreme-1-50-sekundi-s-kutija and can be purchased from Ebay at http://www.ebay.com/itm/Timer-Switch-Time-Relay-1-to-50-sec-10A-Delay-Off-Switch-12V-/231853911019?hash=item35fb91ebeb:g:MkcAAOSwoydWiqkl It is adjustable with a potentiometer from 2 seconds to 50 seconds delay on power up. The 40a relay can be purchased from any auto parts store and is a typical 12V accessory relay.
You still cannot quick cycle the key EVER. If the heater is on and the key is cycled before 4-5 seconds, the pre-charge resistor WILL fail and your car will not start until you drop the battery and repair the MLEC board (if you didn’t burn it too badly). This mod is probably worth the effort for the long term or if you ever allow someone else to drive your car that does not understand how important it is to turn off the blower switch.

By: mayerjm@comcast.net

mayerjm@comcast.net — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 15:29:03 +0000

Hello Per,
Yes, I have a problem with brevity… I can’t comment on Zebra batteries. The only cars I work on are ones with Enerdel Li-ion batteries. As far as I know all of the Thinks in the US have Enerdel batteries. All of the US cars were also retrofitted shortly after being sold to replace the cabin heater system that circulated coolant through a heater bottle with a PTC heater. I don’t know why this expensive retrofit was performed, but I have to wonder if this issue of burning up precharge resistors was the problem and they just hadn’t figured out the mechanism and were willing to do anything to “fix” it. That’s pure speculation on my part.

I would be interested to know if the Zebra batteries have the same problem– I imagine they have the coolant-based heating system, and I don’t know if it is susceptible to this fault. I know there were several revisions to the Climate/Demist Control Module firmware to accommodate the new PTC heaters (the substance of which I have no idea), so who knows how it was different for the coolant-based system… But they must have a precharge circuit similar to Enerdel’s… I think there may be a possibility that this flaw could apply to Zebra batteries– the instructions for overheating your precharge resistor are right there in the post. I don’t advise it, but please let me know if you find out!

By: per ekelund

per ekelund — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 05:22:19 +0000

Wow, that is quite a novel !
At the end there is a sentence saying you have been in contact with Enerdel, the battery supplier. As far as I know they “only” make Lithium batteries. I don’t know, maybe all American Thinks has those batteries but in Europe quite a few (older) cars has the ZEBRA battery and my interpretation is that they do not have this design flaw. Right ?